Jun Eishima - NieR: Automata - Long Story Short Light Novel

NieR:Automata — Long Story Short is the official light novel adaptation of Yoko Taro's landmark 2017 action RPG, written by Jun Eishima — the veteran game novelist behind the Final Fantasy XIII and Drag-On Dragoon novelizations — with original story supervision by Yoko Taro himself.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by alien-created Machines, the story follows 2B, a combat android of cold precision and restrained emotion, and 9S, her enthusiastic, endlessly curious Scanner unit, as they carry out missions for YoRHa — a clandestine android military organization operating from a space station above the clouds while the remnants of humanity wait on the moon. The novel adapts the events of the game's main Route A narrative, tracing 2B and 9S across a ruined world of overgrown cities, collapsed theme parks, and Machine colonies developing disturbingly human behaviors.

What Eishima brings to the material that the game's fragmented, multi-route structure can't fully deliver is interiority. 2B's carefully maintained emotional distance, 9S's relentless optimism masking something more complicated underneath, and the strange, quietly devastating interactions with the Machines they're sent to destroy — all of it lands differently in prose, where Eishima can slow down and inhabit the silence between scenes. The novel is brisk and action-forward while still making room for the philosophical undercurrents that made the game one of the most discussed works in recent game history: questions of consciousness, purpose, the violence of designed existence, and what it means to feel something when you were built not to.

A companion volume, NieR:Automata — Short Story Long, adapts the Route B narrative from 9S's perspective and completes the two-book set. Both volumes were originally published by Square Enix in Japan in 2017 and translated into English by VIZ Media in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Essential reading for any fan of the game, and an accessible entry point for readers curious about the NieR universe before committing to the full franchise.

Other Notable Works

Jun Eishima: NieR:Automata — Short Story Long (Vol. 2), Drag-On Dragoon 3 Story Side, Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero, NieR:Automata — YoRHa Boys  

Yoko Taro: NieR:Replicant, Drakengard series, YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record  

Comparable Peers: NieR:Automata — Short Story Long (Direct companion volume), Sword Art Online (Light novel game-adjacent sci-fi action peer), Ghost in the Shell (Philosophical android fiction peer)

Series Details

Japanese Name: 小説 NieR:Automata — Long Story Short
English Title: NieR:Automata — Long Story Short
Author: Jun Eishima
Original Story: Yoko Taro
Illustrator: Toshiyuki Itahana
Original Publisher: Square Enix
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Years: 2017 (Japan) / 2018 (English)
Volumes: 1 of 2 (Companion volume: Short Story Long)
Age Rating: Teen (13+)
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Post-Apocalyptic, Light Novel

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